Scope Articles

Homelessness is more than one issue

20 Nov 2019

Improvements in several areas are needed to tackle this multi-layered problem. Unfortunately, the absence of a government is a real obstacle.

Autism petition approaches 10,000 signatures

29 Aug 2019

Autism NI is calling for mandatory autism training for all teachers in Northern Ireland –organising a petition they will present at Stormont next month. Scope speaks with CEO Kerry Boyd.

Poverty is bad for you

Photo by Anton Darius | @theSollers on Unsplash

1 Aug 2019

Northern Ireland has startling gaps in life expectancy between rich and poor areas. Scope looks at the latest figures from the Department of Health.

The future of wellbeing – prevention, tech, and more

30 Jul 2019

Mental health provision has never been good enough. As our understanding of mental health improves, we need to build a system fit for the future, not the present. Technology will play a part. We need to decide what part that is.

What can’t we afford? How economic inequality is about more than paying bills

19 Jun 2019

If wealth, rather than ability, drives educational achievement, we have to think hard about how we structure society to compensate for this.

Northern Ireland in no position to take a one-two-three punch

13 Jun 2019

Brexit, Welfare Reform and the health service – each is at a major moment for NI policy. But these are not independent issues. Any failures will compound. This could be disastrous.

Volunteering is good for you

Reuben volunteers in Age NI's shop in Coleraine

6 Jun 2019

It’s Volunteers’ Week. Scope takes a look at how people sacrifice their time for a good cause, why this is important – and also rewarding.

Global goals lack local focus

23 May 2019

The UN Sustainable Development Goals are nearly four years old. High-level strategies for the world (or 193 UN member nations) to build a “better and more sustainable future”. Too few people know what they are.

Loneliness: an underappreciated problem

17 May 2019

A huge number of people in NI frequently feel lonely. It is a problem for people of all ages and in all sorts of situations. The impact on health and wellbeing is enormous.

If you want to improve the benefits system, speak up

Prof. Eileen Evason (centre) along with Barry McVeigh (left) and Kevin Higgins (right), both members of her team that produced the Welfare Reform mitigation report, and the then First and deputy First Ministers

2 May 2019

The IFS says Universal Credit will lower the incomes of millions of people and that the welfare reform “hits the persistently poor the hardest on average.” But change is possible.

Back to the drawing board for sustainable transport to school

Chris Hazzard MLA, then Minister for Infrastructure, with pupils from St Colmcille's Primary School in Downpatrick on Bike to School Day in June 2016

21 Mar 2019

Efforts are underway to change transport habits in Northern Ireland – but they might not be working. Scope looks at the annual school transport figures.

Employability programmes can transform lives and communities

Participants in Start360’s Switch onto Employment, at the scheme's celebration last August

7 Mar 2019

The European Social Fund has committed £200m to NI for employability schemes – including Start360’s Switch onto Employment. The organisation tells Scope that ESF’s post-Brexit replacement cannot be half hearted.

The Justice Department wants your views on how best to beat internet grooming and child abuse

28 Feb 2019

How justice agencies and the law tackle online child sexual exploitation is evolving. Common availability of the internet is only about 20 years old – while the reach and nature of usage has changed massively in the last decade.

Quality of life is easy to understand but difficult to pin down

8 Feb 2019

Reform is possible in NI, even without a government. Officials last week published a paper seeking to understand what is meant by “quality of life” – with the ultimate aim of improving the lot of adults and children with disabilities.

Welfare Reform mitigations have problems that could be helped by an Executive

23 Jan 2019

An Audit Office report has highlighted huge Welfare Reform underspend. Several NI organisations say bigger problems are coming. With no Assembly, we are rudderless – but Stormont struggled to deal with this first time round.

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